The Maroon tide is rising

The closer we get to the State of Origin opener, the further away New South Wales look from breaking Queensland’s eight-series streak. In the space of an NRL week (a unit of time used by both anthropologists and criminologists) the Blues have lost Andrew Fifita and possibly Boyd Cordner to injury, while Greg Bird will miss Origin I through suspension. Additionally, the Blues’ preparations have been undercut by Ray Hadley’s public tantrum surrounding his estranged wife’s choice of new partner (who happens to be on the Blues’ coaching staff), as well as Mitchell Pearce falling foul of the rugby league player’s very own Bermuda Triangle, the moron-trap known as King’s Cross. Pearce’s poor decision-making could yet be enough to see him left out of the Blues side. While for some that would be the best thing to happen to NSW since Barry Gomersall put his whistle away, Pearce's replacement is far from obvious. And that is NSW’s biggest problem of all, and has been for some time.

By contrast, Queensland will struggle to find room for Daly Cherry-Evans in their starting side while their best players are finding form just at the right time. Johnathan Thurston, celebrating his 200th game, cut the Sydney Roosters up like Zorro on Saturday night, while the night before, against South Sydney, Melbourne’s Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith held a masterclass. Origin is never predictable and, hey, Jarryd Hayne’s in cracking form, but the portents aren’t looking good for NSW.

The Dragons have a problem

Like his Teflon-coated CEO Peter Doust – who’s a black belt of the art – under-fire St George Illawarra coach Steve Price doesn’t mind laying on the corporate gobbledygook. Accordingly Dragons fans would have had a wry smile when Price assured the faithful that Benji Marshall would fit in well because “we’ve got the right structures and systems in place and that will continue”. Well, Marshall has slotted seamlessly into the Dragons’ structures and systems alright. Following on from their 34-14 loss to the Roosters two weeks ago and their 38-6 loss to the Bulldogs last week, the Dragons didn’t skip a beat on Saturday. With Benji on board for the first time, the Dragons lost 36-0 to Parramatta. Business as usual.

Of course an underdone Marshall was never going to make a difference to a team bereft of ideas and muscle and, more critically, short of spirit. After the game Price admitted he could not put his finger on the problem. His detractors – such as those petitioning for the removal of Price, Doust, the Dragons’ board, and anything else that moves, or lurches, within the dusty halls of Kogarah – may suggest he turn his finger around and touch it to his forehead. Problem found.

Hodkinson could be an answer, depending on the question

Josh Morris of the Bulldogs celebrates as his team record yet another victory. Photograph: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Canterbury outmuscled the New Zealand Warriors in a high-quality match on Sunday thereby maintaining top spot on the NRL ladder. That’s seven straight wins for the Bulldogs and it’s getting to the point where they’ve shown enough grit to suggest they’re not going to be one of those early-season high flyers who follow the flight path, and fate, of Icarus. Instrumental in this winning team is Trent Hodkinson who has been one of the surprise packets of the season. He’s not flashy but he keeps getting the job done and he can kick goals as well as anyone. Could he be a bolter to replace Pearce as NSW half? And if he is, is he up to Origin? Or could he be like those Thai fisherman pants you wore to death in south-east Asia and then brought home before realising that, out of their natural environment, they just don’t cut it. And actually make you look like a bit of a dick. Who knows, but Hodkinson can’t have done any more to press his case.

Some players seem to be cursed

It was a single moment in a game in a season in a sporting code where bodies, and livelihoods, are constantly put on the line. Midway through the second half of the North Queensland-Roosters match the Cowboys’ bench hooker Cameron King changed direction swiftly in order to make a tackle. He didn’t quite succeed, nor did he spring to his feet after hitting the turf. Instead he was left prostrate on the ground and clutching at his knee before sparing a fist to thump the ground in abject disbelief. Just 22, King has been earmarked for greatness since excelling as a schoolboy and St George junior before debuting in first grade in 2010. But injury, and serious injury at that (such as a torn pectoral muscle in 2011), has continued to plague him. In almost four seasons at the Dragons he played only 17 games. Towards the end of 2013 he was signed by the Cowboys. They gambled that his obvious potential offset his troubled injury record, while he was looking for a fresh start and, no doubt, a better run of luck. But it now appears he’s damaged the ACL in his left knee which, if true, will surely end his season. It may well help to have as a team-mate Brent Tate who, like that liquid-metal machine in Terminator 2, has come back from the dead more than once, but King will have to negotiate a lot of the dark days ahead on his own. Such is the life of the professional athlete.

It’s a shame league needs Women in League

The NRL’s Women in League round was held over the weekend, hence all the pink on display (because women love pink, right?) It’s an initiative designed to “recognise and reward” women for the significant role they play in the game, from the grassroots level all the way up to the boardroom. You could debate at length the usefulness of the initiative, or the contradictions surrounding it (contradictions such as seeing Robert Lui, someone with a history of assaulting women, wearing the pink stripes of solidarity), but most of us would agree that it’s a shame such a round is deemed necessary.